This invention relates to portable apparatus for holding or supporting work materials, and more particularly, to a portable work holding apparatus for use with a camera or photographic tripod so as to be adjustable to a plurality of different orientations including generally vertical and generally horizontal orientations.
Many individuals, such as artists and lecturers often require portable apparatus for supporting their work materials. For example, artists require a support for the canvas panels used in oil painting or the pressed hardboard or paper used when working with water colors, chalk, pencil sketching or other media. Similarly, lecturers require portable apparatus for supporting lecture notes, charts, graphs or the like. It is desirable that the support apparatus be adjustable both in vertical height and angular orientation. This is particularly true when the apparatus is used in applications involving painting because water color painting requires that the water color board be supported in a generally horizontal orientation whereas for oil painting, the canvas is preferably supported in a generally vertical orientation.
In addition to paints and paint brushes, various accessories are required for painting with either oil paints or water colors. For example, such accessories may include a palette for holding the paints or for mixing pigments, a container of water for cleaning the brushes, and a container for storing the brushes when not in use. The containers of liquid paint and water must be maintained in an upright position, generally parallel to the ground, to prevent running of the paints or spilling of the water. Although some known work holding apparatus has included paint palettes and containers for water, such accessories are not adjustably mounted to be properly oriented when the work holder is adjusted from a vertical orientation to a horizontal orientation.
A further consideration is that the portable work holding apparatus must be sturdy when it is set up, particularly if it is used outdoors. The work holding apparatus must be sufficiently sturdy as to avoid being blown over by a gust of wind, or being knocked over inadvertently by the user or some other person.
One known prior art portable work holding apparatus includes a work holder adapted to be attached to a conventional photographic tripod. Such combination provides the desired portability and compactness for the work holding apparatus as well as the adjustability which permits the work holder to be oriented in a generally vertical orientation for oil painting or in a generally horizontal orientation for painting with water colors, for example. However, this apparatus does not provide for adjustable or changeable mounting for accessories and makes no special provision to enhance its stability in use.